A Gap in the Electrification Theory

Last night the rain came in heavy for the last hours before the Arctic blast dropped temperatures thirty degrees and far below freezing. Naturally that meant ice in the trees, which meant lots of treefalls onto power lines. This morning power is out across five counties for thousands of households. 

By coincidence, an increasing number of households use heat pumps to keep their homes warm. This is an excellent technology under the right circumstances. It is perfectly useless right now, exactly when needed the most. 

My home is mostly heated by firewood. It works just as well without the power, although the lack of fans to move the warm air about limits the efficiency somewhat. Still, a fire in the furnace means warm floors and unfrozen water pipes even in deep cold. 
on

3 comments:

  1. Mike Guenther8:35 PM

    Thankfully we have a ventless propane heater. I installed two mini splits last spring. This intense cold, 14 degrees with wind chill of -4, has frozen one of the units so that the heat quit working. The one on the other side of the house is still throwing out the heat, though, knock on wood.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous10:20 PM

    Until I can afford to get the chimney repaired, I can't use the fireplace at RedQuarters (natural gas, alas. Had been wood, but was converted. Now very expensive to convert back.) If the power goes out, everything goes out, because adding a generator is . . . complicated. Very complicated.

    LittleRed1

    ReplyDelete
  3. Assistant Village Idiot10:38 PM

    We had an enormous old woodstove in the basement at the other house, which kept the floors and pipes warm no matter what, as you said. Here in the 55+ community no woodstoves are allowed and the houses are on slab. We have the propane space heaters ready just in case but have not yet needed them.

    ReplyDelete